


Sneakers

by Daenerysstormbornstark



Category: Figure Skating RPF, Olympics RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 16:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14169246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daenerysstormbornstark/pseuds/Daenerysstormbornstark
Summary: It was a chilly night in Montreal, Canada. The temperatures dropping below O Degrees Celsius, and the snow falling lightly onto the ground. For a clear, starry night in mid-April, the air surrounding the city was quite frozen. I guess you could describe the feeling outside, as correctly as she could feel her heart. Frozen, walls up, the castle built up high, and damn any man who tries to cross over the alligator infested moat. She had never been this closed off to love in her entire life, when she should be standing on top of a cliff singing some cheesy Hall & Oates song. She had just won the fucking Olympics for Christ sake, another gold medal making her and him the most decorated figure skaters of all time. She had numerous sponsorships in the works, her own fashion line she was designing with Adidas, and a national campaign with the skincare brand she loved, Nivea. She should be happy.





	Sneakers

**Author's Note:**

> My first Virtue/Moir one-shot! Enjoy!

It was a chilly night in Montreal, Canada. The temperatures dropping below O Degrees Celsius, and the snow falling lightly onto the ground. For a clear, starry night in mid-April, the air surrounding the city was quite frozen. I guess you could describe the feeling outside, as correctly as she could feel her heart. Frozen, walls up, the castle built up high, and damn any man who tries to cross over the alligator infested moat. She had never been this closed off to love in her entire life, when she should be standing on top of a cliff singing some cheesy Hall & Oates song. She had just won the fucking Olympics for Christ sake, another gold medal making her and  _him_  the most decorated figure skaters of all time. She had numerous sponsorships in the works, her own fashion line she was designing with Adidas, and a national campaign with the skincare brand she loved, Nivea.  _She should be happy._

The snow cast a light white blanket across the downtown bar where her newest event for her Nivea campaign was being held. It was more of a celebration than a work event. Nivea had sold 1 million units of some skin lotion Tessa had been promoting just since February. Her star power was daunting. The world outside the Olympics in the past few months had been consuming. Sponsorships deals with numerous brands, radio interviews with nearly every station from Montreal to Vancouver, flights to and from Japan for Stars on Ice, a tv interview with Ellen Freakin DeGeneres, and a hectic schedule planning for Stars on Ice in Canada which was due to start in a few weeks. The bubble from Pyeongchang had burst, and the endless traveling, rehearsing, touring, and promotions were getting the best of her resolve. She was tired and restless at the same, which didn’t help her heightened emotions when it came to a certain skating? Business? partner, whatever the hell term he came up with when they did interviews. She just didn’t care anymore after that certain question had been asked 1 million and one times.

This night came as a steady reprieve from all the work she had been doing since Pyeongchang. Her initial giddiness and excitement she felt from winning gold was wearing off, and she needed a week to relax and prepare for her next move. Nivea had gone all out for the event at a tiny downtown bar in the trendy part of Montreal. A small bar with a beautiful outdoor garden filled with trees, wooden benches, and the smell of an uptight place that would normally be her scene. There were white lights dangling from all the Japanese inspired trees filling the garden, and a light coat of snow covering the wooden benches and mahogany bar that made it look truly magnificent at night.

Music was blaring from the speakers, all her favorite songs by Hall and Oates, the Arkells, and her current obsession Moulin Rouge. Life size card board cut outs of Tessa in all her outfits from past Olympics. The white dress from her gold win in Vancouver, her pink dress from “Stay” in Sochi, and her most recent Moulin Rouge inspired red cutout costume. Nivea even had gone to the trouble of creating a drink called, “Virch Up” and “Moir Please”, one made with a woody dark whiskey, the other with Kahula and Chocolate Liqueur. Yes, Tessa would be having many “Virch Up” drinks tonight.

Tessa was grateful for all the trouble Nivea had gone through to throw this party in her honor. So, she put on her best emerald green dress, highest heels, and curled her hair to perfection. She also had her Adidas sneakers which would surely replace the highest heels by the end of the night.She also added a new leather jacket as a touch of her own style. Classy, yet edgy. That’s how she would describe herself. That’s how Nivea would describe her, that’s how Marie-France and Patch would want her costumes to exhibit for her edgy characters, that’s how Jordan would say her fashion line would turn out, that’s how Scott….

…No..she wasn’t going to think about him tonight. This was her night to relax and get away from the stress that was currently consuming her heart. She was going to dance, hang out with friends, maybe even flirt with the cute bartender. He wasn’t going to be in any part of her brain tonight.  _Only she forgets he was on her automatic email for invites._

Three “Virch UP”’s and one “Moir Please” drink into the night, he had the audacity to show up at HER event with that girl with the dark hair and green eyes that everyone said resembled Tessa. What was her name? There had been so many that looked the same, she nearly forget the newest one. Kate? Kaitlyn? Katie? Kat? He’s dated three or four different Kaitlyns since Kaitlyn Lawes it’s hard to remember. Oh yes, “Kait” was her trendy little nickname she went by. Barely scratching 22, “Kait” was hanging onto Scott like he was fucking Justin Trudeau himself. Dressed in a cut down to the navel tight red dress and dark black stripper shoes, “Kait” had really made an entrance to Tessa’s event like she was the one being celebrated tonight. The first thing you could see when you looked at “Kait” was her big fake boobs and injected lips like her idol Kylie Jenner.

She wasn’t even from Canada! She was from California. From what Tessa had gathered, this girl had gone to school in Montreal for the last two years because she was looking for her “big break” boyfriend. She had dated four different Leafs players in the past two years, and even tried to come onto Chiddy at one point. She had been a regular around the ice for a year when she dated one of Scott’s hockey friends from the Leafs.  Guess “Kait” had found her big break in Scott. She never was interested in him until he brought back a gold medal from Korea. What Scott saw in the cheap Walmart version of herself she will never understand. Scott had better taste in women than this, and she knew he hated women who dated him because of his name.

“Kait” and Scott made their way through the outdoor garden of the bar. Everyone of Tessa’s friends and coworkers staring at the girl like she had no place there. Scott being naïve as ever didn’t notice the disdain he was getting from all their friends. Whispers of “Why is this cheap Walmart version of Tessa here?” “What does he see in her anyways?” “Did Tessa really tell Scott to bring his new three-week girlfriend?” Tessa’s favorite, “I thought he and Tess were dating secretly for years?” Tessa couldn’t stand all the forced stares and fake smiles looking at her like she was some miserable school girl mad that her crush brought his new girlfriend to the prom. It didn’t help the fact that Scott was staring at her with that all to knowing glare she was on the receiving end of for the past month. For knowing her for almost 21 years, Scott should know better not to do this to her. He knew she was looking forward to this night. Damn him for making her emotional tonight.

Rushing inside, not being able to handle the glare she was receiving from Scott and the fake smile “Kait” had presented upon congratulating her for her success at the Olympics, she downed two “Moir Please” cocktails and compartmentalized the past two months of her life. Where had things gone wrong since that night in Pyeongchang? Everything had been so good, so right, in the weeks leading up to the Olympics. Tessa finally felt like everything was falling into place after the last two years of waiting, waiting, and waiting until the Olympics were over and they could finally be to each other what they had always been. She had made him wait for so many years because she was never sure about what would happen if they crossed the line? He always having some girlfriend, and she always being too scared to face her feelings. She was FINALLY ready to tell him everything in her heart that night in Pyeongchang. This was going to be the moment where she laid her soul bare to him, stripped naked in front of him with her heart being held in his hands ready to be crushed if he wanted to. She was ready, but then she went and fucked it up…

_He had never been this intense with her before, but the fact that they had finally given into their feelings in Pyeongchang the night they won the gold, it seemed inevitable. That night was the best night of her life. She had finally gotten back what was hers, the gold. She had also had gained something she had been wanting for the last 10 years at least, the man she loved. She loved him, not as in skating-business partners, best friends, my family kind of way. No, she was in love with him. The earth-shattering, soul-baring, soulmate, life partner kind of in love. She had known for at least two years, but kept him at a distance because they needed to focus on skating._

_The thrill and excitement from that night in Korea had melted the ice around her heart and after celebrating with friends and family at Canada House she finally let that love consume her. She and Scott didn’t just have sex that night, Tessa had sex with all her boyfriends. She had never truly made love. That night her and Scott made love, probably five different times. His breath on her neck, her thighs wrapped around his hips, her hands in his hair, her name falling from lips, it was perfect. She never expected anything less than that with Scott. He was the one for her. This was it. The man she had seen in her dreams in a white church on a spring Sunday in London, waiting for her as she walked down the aisle in the most beautiful white dress was him. She never saw herself as a wife, but for him she would have said yes in a million different lifetimes, any reality, any version of herself. She never wanted kids, but for him she would have 20 and a shaggy dog too maybe. She was always a city girl, but she’d move to country side if that’s what he wanted. She’d even put up with his endless chatter of hockey for the rest of her life is she had to. She would tell him all this when they woke up…_

_…. thoughts…too many thought swirling in her head when she woke up next to him. What was going to happen now? Skating was over. The Olympic hype would soon die down, the country would move onto the next big thing in sports, Stars on Ice tour would come to an end, and eventually their looming retirement would come. What would she have left? Yes, she would have sponsorships and fashion, and maybe even her own line one day. That was all exciting, but she was only 28 and had so much life left to live. The gold medal would collect dust, the blades on her skates would become dull, and the next skating team would have Canada’s love. Virtue/Moir long forgotten by the next Olympics. She barely even had time to get to know herself outside of skating, and now that it was coming to an end, and she wanted to get to know herself all over again._

_Tessa felt Scott stir next to her, thank god Kaitlyn had been with Andrew in his room for the past week. Tears gathered in her eyes as she recalled the day before. The gold had been won, the tears had been shed, and the culmination of their whirlwind partnership over the past two years had come to an exhilarating conclusion. Tessa was supposed to be crying happy tears. She had DECIDED. She wanted Scott. This was what she always wanted, wasn’t it? It was the same feeling as when she has won gold yesterday, once you got it what was there left to achieve? Tessa’s head always got the best of her heart. She should have never let her carefully crafted walls come down last night. It was the atmosphere, the buzz, the electricity between them that all concluded in them finally doing this._

_Would this be the end of their partnership? What would happen when he wakes up? Does he feel the same? Yes, they slept together, but that doesn’t mean he loves her. What would happen if they break up? What would happen if they got married, then divorced? What if they fell out of love? What if this feeling was just from her reality? She had known nothing and only him for the past twenty years. What if she lost him because they couldn’t make it work? Thoughts…nasty, mind numbing thoughts consumed Tessa. Long gone was the feeling she had the previous day. Anxiety and numbness at the same time. She couldn’t take being in the same room as him suddenly. She had to leave.  She had to get away from him._

_Quickly scrambling out of the bed quietly as not to wake him, Tessa put on leggings and a sweater and pulled her hair so tight on her head she knew she’d have a migraine later. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. What has she done? What will she do? What have they done? She should have never let her emotions get the best of her. She was weak when it came to him. Bolting for the door as her only way of escape, she choked back a sob as she turned the handle._

_A soft moan stopped her from exiting the room, she looked back and saw Scott pouting in his sleep and reaching to the spot she had occupied. She couldn’t bear the thought of him waking up right now. She slowly went back towards the bed and put her hand in his hair. Scott the always heavy sleeper slumped down on her side of the bed immediately fast asleep. Tears streaming down her face, Tessa leaned down and kissed his forehead softly._

_“I’m sorry.” and then she was gone._

_He never brought it up to her at the gala that night, or on the plane back from Korea, or at the airport when he hugged her goodbye for the weekend. He never brought it up, but she could see it in his eyes, in the awkward tension building every time they were together. He knew he was sparring her the pain he was feeling. He was shutting himself off from her, and it was the most horrible feeling she ever had._

_They did their interviews and went their separate ways, stayed in separate rooms in LA and Japan, only spoke when they needed too._

_The weekend after getting home she cried herself to sleep every night._

_The week after he showed up at the rink with “Kait”._

The haze of her memoires became clear as reality hit her in the gut. Those “Virch Up”’s were really taking effect on her brain. All these depressing memoires becoming a mash-up of the fucked-up relationship she and Scott had somehow formed over the last 20 years. The highest of highs and lowest of lows. She sometimes couldn’t decipher where she began and he ended. These last few months she felt like a part of her limbs where missing, a part of her heart gone dark and not beating. She had fucked up royally. Her anxiety and over working brain making her bolt in the most important moment of her life. Regret didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling.

No. She thought to herself. He was in the wrong just as much as she was. Yes, she had ran, but he should have known to come and catch her. He was supposed to be the emotional “heart on your sleeve” kind of man, and he didn’t mention ONE word to her about that night. She was angry, hurt, confused, and was living in all too consuming guilt and rage at herself. He didn’t make the matter better by not saying a word to her. No, he went and got another bimbo girlfriend to hurt her feelings. Scott knew her the most out of anyone, he should have known she needed time to process things. Yes, she had decided she wanted to be with him that night and for probably forever, but these things take time with her. She wanted to talk to him so many times when they got home, but he was fucking “Kait” not even a week after they got back. So, she closed him off as he did her, and he had the NERVE to come and ruin her event. He knew she’d be upset if she showed up with that girl.

Her mind buzzing with the alcohol form her six previous drinks, since when did she drink that much? She had made up her mind, she and Scott were going to have that “TALK”, right here, right now. Damn “Kait” and her fake smiles and injected lips. Tessa wanted an answer so she could move on. She wanted her mind to be at ease, she couldn’t take it anymore. So, summoning up her liquid courage she headed back to the garden, bolting right towards Scott.

She was storming up to him, he had that same cocky grin on his face while talking to Chiddy, she would be damn sure to wipe it off him. He looked shocked when she roughly grabbed him by the arm. “Kait” already off at the bar flirting with the bartender. She heard him mutter, “What the hell, T?” and roughly pulled his arm out of her iron clad grasp. He was looking at her with that damn glare again.

“I need to talk to you, Scott. Now!”, she said through clenched teeth, her fists clenched by her side almost turning a ghostly white.

“I don’t think right now is the best time. Kait and I were just about to leave.”, he said pointedly with irritation is tone.

“I don’t give a damn what you and Kait were about to do, you came to my event and haven’t said a word to me…” The anger dissipated as quickly as it came, and she sighed. This wasn’t what she had in mind. Anger wasn’t the best option to approach. Tired and exhausted from the tension, she felt her face fall. “Scott, please.”

His gaze softened slightly, and he nodded and followed he out of the bar. “Kait” not even noticing.

They approached a small alleyway outside the bar. Scott leaning against the wall and Tessa fidgeting with the hem of her dress. He just stood there staring at her and saying nothing. She could cut the tension with the bottom of her blade, and it wouldn’t even make a tear. All the fight had left her, and she stood standing there in front of him again. She had that same feeling the night when they had won gold, of being stripped bare and him seeing straight to her core. She couldn’t even look at him now.

Finally, Scott cleared his throat and she looked up at him. Gone was the glare from earlier in the night, he was looking at her like he did when he came to practice the next morning for the skating gala in Korea. Eyes glassy, every emotion he felt running through him on display. Pain, hurt, confusion, disappointment, betrayal. She didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t form words. She wanted to tell him she loved him, that she was sorry, that she never wanted to see him in pain again, but she couldn’t speak so she did the only thing that she could do at that time. She kissed him.

At first, she heard a surprised gasp from him. He wasn’t expecting this. She grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him roughly. Every emotion she had running through her she put into the kiss. She thought he was going to push her away at first when he stood there rigid in shock, but eventually his arms came around her and he kissed her back.

Everything had disappeared in that moment. He was the only thing that existed. The cold air turning into burning flames on her skin. It was like she had transported herself to an alternate universe, a different time in a small dorm type room in Korea. She bit his bottom lip with her teeth and he immediately opened his mouth when he felt her tongue trying to sweep against his. He kissed her back with the same ferocity that she was giving. Long forgotten that anyone could walk by and see them. She pushed him against the wall and ran her hands down his chest, and his hands getting dangerously close to her hips. Tessa told him the things she wanted to say with her kiss, her actions always spoke louder than her carefully crafted press ready words. She hoped he got the message, but as soon as it started it ended.

Scott pulled back roughly and pushed her away with a loud sigh. The glare was back.

“What the hell, Tessa?”, he screamed at her, loud enough to echo down the alleyway but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Her mind was buzzed, and her own shock seeped in. She couldn’t breathe and she couldn’t stand. She propped herself against the wall where he was standing and tried to sync her breathing. Damn those stupid “Moir…” whatever drinks! She could feel his glare on her and the anger rolling off him in waves. A new wave of emotion hit her that night for the thousandth time, and the tears just rolled down her face. She was so embarrassed and heartbroken.

Scott could never stand to see her cry. So, he put his hand on her back and rubbed it soothingly as she sobbed. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t strong enough. He deserved better than this, than her. She had crushed his heart, and he still was there for her time and time again. No matter how many fucked up things she did to hurt him.

“I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry.”, She sobbed as she stared at the dirt on the ground.

She got the same instinct she always had. She had to run. This is what she was good at wasn’t she?

So, she tried to bolt, run as fast as she could back to her hotel. Fake some crazy illness so she wouldn’t have to see him until the next tour stop. Lock herself up in her apartment in Toronto with 10 different types of chocolate and tequila, a lot of tequila. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t ready, she never was she was a coward.

She stopped midway when she heard him scream, the first thing other than “What the hell?” and a few short sentences over the past few weeks.

“Tell me you don’t love me!” Scott practically yelled at her in the empty, narrow alley behind the bar.

All Tessa could feel was her vision blurred and mind cloudy. She didn’t expect this to happen tonight out of all nights. Why had things become so difficult after they achieved their dream? This was supposed to be her night, and Scott was ruining it. Although, she surely did propel this conversation forward by drunkenly kissing him in said alleyway. She just couldn’t take watching him with his latest flame that would burn out in a few months like every other one of his relationships did. She supposed it was almost entirely her fault. When did she become so irrational?

She turned and just stood there and stared at him blurry eyed. Words caught in the wind. What was she supposed to say?

Scott sensed her hesitation and walked up to her and took her face in both of his hands. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Tell me you don’t love me.” Scott said softly this time. His own eyes reflecting the pools of water as her own emerald ones. “If you don’t, I’ll go back in there and leave with Kait. We will never have to speak about this again. It will hurt like hell, but I’ll try to move on. We can go our separate ways after the tours end.”

Giant, fat tears ran down Tessa’s face. She reached up and grabbed his hands that were on her face and laced their fingers together. She had missed his hands.

“…you need to know that night in Pyeongchang was the best night of my life, T. I don’t regret anything that happened. When I woke up and you weren’t there I thought you didn’t want that, want me. That’s why I never brought it up again. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I was shutting you out. I just didn’t know how to handle everything. I’m so sorry.”

Tears fell down his face onto her cheeks as he leaned his forehead against hers. Tessa was sure she looked like a racoon from all the crying she had been doing. She was still at a loss for words, all this time he was trying to not hurt her even after she had broken him. What an idiot she had been.

“I’m sorry too.” She whispered against the wind.

He continued as if he didn’t hear her.

“..I’m sorry about everything, but I need to know if you..if you…”, he stuttered with the most broken voice she had ever heard from him mixed with a twinge of hope. “ if you do love me, if that night meant as much to you as it did to me…. then that changes everything…”

She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her with the softest expression. His brown orbs portraying depths of emotion she couldn’t handle.

“..because I love you so damn much. You must know everything I’ve done for the past two years has been for you. If you love me, then let me make you happy. We’ve waited long enough.”

The words rang into the chilly Canadian air. The silence like a black hole between them. Suddenly Scott felt oceans away, even though she was standing right there.

“Say something, please T. Your killing me.”

Tessa has waited for him to say those words for 20 years. How could he not know that she loved him? He was the only man she would ever love. She didn’t believe in fate, but she would say he was her soulmate, her other half, her partner in every way possible. The love of her life…

but this wasn’t some Disney movie where the prince came and swept her off her feet. This wasn’t some fairytale that had a happy ending. Sometimes her life seems that way, but, it was damn hard.

So, she said the stupidest thing she could think of now,

“What about Kait?”, she said.

Scott laughed bitterly.

“Tess, she is just a rebound. I only went out with her to make you jealous. I know it sounds stupid and childish, but at the time it was the only thing that made sense.”

He combed his hand threw her now messy hair. He smiled a small smile at her.

“It’s only you. It always been you.”

Tessa let out a choked sob and kissed him again. This time he didn’t hold back.

When his arms went around her, she knew. No more overthinking. No more foolish mind games. This was it. She finally had peace in her frantic mind. She felt the same peace she felt after she won gold, the same peace she had when she had kissed him for the first time in her room at Canada house, the same peace she felt when he took her hand for the first time all those years ago in the skating rink in Ilderton. Peace and home. He was her home. How could she have been so stupid? She ripped his heart out and he still came back. No one ever came back for her before, or maybe she was always running towards him and away from the others. She loved him so much, she would say yes right now if he asked her to marry him. She was finally sure about something in her life that wasn’t skating. She would never change her mind again.

She broke the kiss and gave a teary laugh.

“I’m such an idiot.”

He kissed her forehead. “My idiot.”, he laughed.

She laughed and then her face fell and she looked at him deeply.

“I could never say I don’t love you because I’ve always loved you. I love you so much it hurts. I never wanted to leave you that morning, but I didn’t know how to face you, face us. I think I always knew it would turn out this way, but I was scared. I was a coward, and I’m so sorry for that.”, she cried.

“It’s okay.”, he told her gently.

She took both his hands, “No, it’s not. I hurt you, and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for that, but I’d like to try and make it up to you from now until, I don’t know forever I guess. Your it for me too. I want you to know that it always been you for me too. I love you so much.”, she cried.

“I love you too.” he whispered and kissed her again.

 

Scott could say he ended up leaving with a pretty girl that night.

She had a green eyes and dark hair.

She wasn’t wearing a red dress or “black stripper heels”. Later he would find out that other girl hooked up with the bartender in the bathroom that same night.

The pretty girl he left with was wearing an emerald green dress and white Adidas sneakers instead of heels at the end of the night.

That pretty girl in the Adidas sneakers would be with him every night for the rest of his life.


End file.
